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 Unfortunately, according to Natural Resources Wales, there has been a decline in Dŵr Cymru performance outlined in their annual review.
NRW has published their 2023 performance reports for the two water companies operating in Wales, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy. It highlights the worst performance from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water against the metrics measured against, which are standardised in England and Wales. While Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will stay at two-star (company requires improvement) rating this year, NRW has issued a stark warning to the company that it needs to turn the tables on its downward performance trends. Clare Pillman, our Chief Executive said: “Despite increased pressure from ourselves as regulators, and from politicians and the public, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water have failed to make the kind of improvements we want and expect to see. “It is unacceptable that we are now seeing a year-on-year increase in significant pollution incidents, at a time where so much is being invested in improving our rivers and water quality for nature and people." Due to its small operating area, Hafren Dyfrdwy does not receive a star rating from us, however similar measures are used to assess the company’s performance. Clare Pillman added: “While there are always improvements to make, we are pleased to report that Hafren Dyfrdwy’s performance has improved from last year." Ambitious new project launched to help restore the beloved River Wye A new project has been launched to help restore the upper reaches of the River Wye, one of the UK’s most cherished rivers. Funded by the Welsh Government, the project focuses on the Wye catchment upstream of Hay-on-Wye, with goals to protect species and improve habitats by tackling various pressures impacting the river. Enhancements in the upper catchment will benefit the entire river system. The project represents a significant step in our commitment to environmental stewardship, aiming to safeguard the River Wye’s unique biodiversity for future generations. Susie Tudge, Team Leader of the Upper Wye Catchment Restoration Project said: “Launching the project has been a long time coming and I’m delighted that we are now up and running. “We all have our role to play in improving the local environment, and this project is one of NRW’s major contributions to the cause. “Working together, we can make a major change in how the catchment looks. This will benefit everyone, including the local environment and wildlife.  Further to being sworn in as First Minister to the Welsh Government at the Senedd yesterday, Eluned Morgan has made the following statement in appointing her Cabinet:
I am today pleased to announce appointments to the Ministerial team and Counsel General Designate. I confirm Huw Irranca-Davies in the role of Deputy First Minister in addition to his Climate Change and Rural Affairs Portfolio. As Deputy First Minister, Huw will support me in my role as First Minister and will work alongside me to deliver for the people for Wales. I have asked Mark Drakeford, Member for Cardiff West, to join the Ministerial team as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on an interim basis. Mark will bring his significant knowledge and experience to bear to continue our work to improve transparency and delivery. I will retain responsibility for the Welsh Language. I have also today designated Elisabeth Jones under section 49(6) of the Government of Wales Act 2006 to exercise the functions of the Counsel General on an interim basis, in accordance with the provisions of that section. Elisabeth was the Chief Legal Adviser for the National Assembly for Wales and Senedd from 2012 – 2019. The appointments I am announcing today will provide stability and continuity over the summer in the Ministerial team, complementing the changes announced on 17 July 2024:
News on the Wales Visitor Economy Profile 2024: Report from Tourism Research at Visit Wales31/7/2024  This report gives a summary of employment earnings, enterprises, expenditure and out-put data relating to the tourism and hospitality industries for Wales in 2024
To access the full report click on: Wales visitor economy profile: 2024 [HTML] | GOV.WALES This report summarises latest available data on Tourism enterprises, Tourism employment and earnings, as well as Tourism expenditure and Gross Value Added (GVA) in Wales. Tourism employment and GVA is reported for 2022, whilst data for tourism enterprises and earnings data relate to 2023. Full data tables covering from 2015 to the latest available period are included in the Annex of the report. Please note that Earnings data and 2022 GVA data are provisional. The report is based on a revised definition of the tourism and hospitality industries in Wales developed by Visit Wales using the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) to identify classes of business activity that are more dependent on tourism spending. Definition of tourism industries The SIC (Office for National Statistics) (ONS) is used in classifying business establishments by the type of economic activity in which they are engaged. It can be used as a convenient way of classifying industrial activities into a common structure. For the purposes of this report, Visit Wales identified a set of UK SIC divisions, classes and subclasses that may represent the tourism industries in Wales. For the purposes of this report, Visit Wales has also identified seven sub-sectors of Tourism Industries in Wales: 1. Accommodation for visitors 2. Food and beverage service activities 3. Sporting and recreational activities 4. Cultural activities 5. Passenger transport 6. Travel agencies and other reservation activities 7. Country specific tourism activities Hospitality is defined as a sub-section of the tourism industries, based on specific subclasses shown in Table 5.0, see the Annex in the report for details. Therefore, for the purposes of this publication, the figures reported for the tourism industries include hospitality as well as the non-hospitality parts of tourism. Data for employment and registered enterprises in this report is provided for all Tourism Industries, for Hospitality, and for the seven tourism industry sub-sectors. Whilst figures for employment and enterprises in this report are based on the preferred and more precise definition for tourism industries, estimates for GVA and earnings are based on different approximations since neither GVA nor earnings data is available at SIC class or subclass level. Instead, GVA is reported for seven SIC divisions, four of which fall into the Visit Wales tourism industry definition in their entirety. The remaining divisions are included in this report as they are predominantly related to Tourism, though they include activity which is not counted in the Visit Wales tourism industries definition. Whilst earnings data are published at SIC division level, figures reported here are based on SIC sections, the level above, for increased accuracy where possible. As illustrated in Table 5.3, two SIC sections reported on map directly onto six of the seven SIC divisions identified for analysis of GVA data, and the remaining SIC division is reported at division level. See Table 5.9 for details. This difference in industry coverage should be borne in mind when comparing GVA or earnings figures alongside those for employment and enterprises. Main findings Tourism Industries accounted for 11.8% of employment (159,000) in Wales in 2022, an increase from 151,000 in 2020 (11.3% of employment in Wales) during which time overall employment levels in Wales remained relatively stable. Tourism as a proportion of all employment in Wales over recent years has fluctuated, but the 2022 proportion is similar to 2019 (12.1%). 77% of tourism employment (123,000) was in hospitality. The increase in Tourism employment in 2022 was driven by the increase within hospitality industries, from an employment level of 115,000 in 2020 (8.6% of employment in Wales) to 123,000 (9.1%) in 2022. The sub-sector accounting for the largest proportion of employment in 2022 was Food and Beveraging Service Activities with 6.8% (91,000) of employment in Wales followed by Accommodation for Visitors with 1.9% (26,000). 56% of employee jobs in tourism in 2022 were part time, compared with just 35% of employee jobs in all industries. Within hospitality, 59% of employee jobs were part time. The proportions of part-time and full-time employees within Tourism and Hospitality, and in Wales overall, have remained steady over recent years. There have been changes in the regional figures on the proportion of employment in tourism. In 2020, 13.2% of employment in Mid Wales was in tourism, compared to 7.5% in 2022. In 2022, the region with the highest proportion of employment in tourism was South East, with 9.5%. There is considerable variation within region and across the nation. In Pembrokeshire and Anglesey over 20% of employment was in tourism industries, the highest of all local authorities. The lowest level was in Wrexham (7.5%). Earnings in 2023 This section uses data from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings which samples employee jobs from HMRC PAYE records. Data is collected annually relating to the financial year ending in April of the reporting year. Please note 2023 earnings data are provisional. The median hourly pay in the financial year ending April 2023 was £14.85 in Wales, but within tourism-related industries it was substantially lower. Among employee jobs in Accommodation and Food Service Activities the median hourly pay was £10.99, in Arts, Entertainment and Recreation jobs it was £12.83. Median hourly pay for jobs in Accommodation and Food Service Activities was 9.9% higher in 2023 than in 2022. For Arts, Entertainment and Recreation jobs median hourly pay increased by 6.9%. The average across all industries in Wales was 7.5%. Enterprises in 2023 This section uses information from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) (ONS), as of March each year. An enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units (generally based on VAT and/or PAYE records) which has a certain degree of autonomy within a group of legal units under common ownership. The IDBR and data only covers those businesses registered for VAT or PAYE, so sole traders below the VAT threshold will not be included (unless they have registered voluntarily). Tourism enterprises (12,625) accounted for 11.8% of registered enterprises in Wales in 2023. 80% (10,065) of tourism enterprises were in hospitality, accounting for 9.4% of enterprises registered in Wales. The proportion of tourism enterprises has increased slightly in recent years, from 10.9% in 2019. Hospitality enterprise proportions followed a similar trend. Food and Beveraging Service Activities account for 7.3% of enterprises (7,840) in Wales, followed by Accommodation for Visitors with 1.7% (1,810). Four in five (80%) tourism enterprises have fewer than 9 employees, a lower proportion than across all industries in Wales. 19% of tourism enterprises have between 10 and 49 employees, a higher proportion than across all industries in Wales. Users are reminded that the IDBR only covers businesses which are registered for VAT or PAYE. It is possible that tourism and/or hospitality has a higher than average proportion of sole traders which are not VAT registered who would not appear in these figures. Other employment data sources such as the Annual Population Survey (APS) captures self-employed workers and businesses which are not PAYE or VAT registered. In North Wales 12.8% of enterprises were in tourism industries, the highest level of all regions. The lowest incidence was in Mid Wales where only 10.1% of enterprises were in tourism industries. There is variation across Wales. In Gwynedd and Merthyr Tydfil, 16.7% of enterprises were in tourism industries, the highest proportion, compared to the lowest proportion seen in Flintshire, where only 8.6% of enterprises were in tourism industries. Similarly to employment distribution, the largest share of tourism enterprises in Wales was in the South East (40.7%) and the smallest share was in Mid Wales (10.2%). Report from: Tourism Research Visit Wales Welsh Government  News for the Tourism Industry in Wales 30 July 2024 World Travel Market, 5-7 November 2024 - register by 16 August 2024 Interested in promoting your business to the international Travel Trade including tour operators and travel agents? Join us at World Travel Market (WTM), the leading global event for the travel industry, taking place 5-7 November 2024 at ExCeL London. Exhibiting at WTM provides a unique opportunity to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business with more than 50,000 international travel professionals, from more than 38 sectors of the travel industry. We’ve secured space for the Wales partners on the UKinbound stand, which is in a prime location at the front of the UK and Ireland Hall. To participate you must be interested and able to contract, sell through the Travel Trade and offer commission / net rates. Any accommodation providers must be Visit Wales or AA graded. Activity providers need to go through the Visit Wales Adventure Activity Assurance Scheme where required. Partner Pod: £4,300 + VAT, if granted 50% subsidy, subject to MFA (previously known as SAFA / de minimis aid) regulation. Full pod cost is £8,600 + VAT. The deadline to secure a pod is 16 August 2024. Space is limited and Visit Wales reserves the right to confirm participation based on a first come first served basis. For full details and how to reserve your space please contact [email protected]. Two opportunities to meet German tour operators VisitBritain has opened registration for two events offering businesses the opportunity to meet with German and global tour operators and agents.
You can also register now for VisitBritain’s free International Market Webinars 2024. For any enquiries please contact [email protected] (VisitBritain’s Industry Engagement Manager) and for any other enquiries please contact the Visit Wales Travel Trade team at [email protected]. Tourism Exchange Great Britain Introductory Webinar – 28 August 2024 Did you know, accommodation, attractions, tours and events can reach new customers through a broad range of distribution channels and unique campaigns, brought together in one platform? That platform is Tourism Exchange Great Britain (TXGB), but what is it and how does it work? What are the benefits for your business? A short webinar all about TXGB, including case studies and answers to frequently asked questions, is being held on Wednesday 28 August, 10:30am – 11:00am. If you want to enable more online bookings, or become bookable online for the first time, this free 30-minute webinar is for you. Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom Stay up to date with tourism industry news View previously published Visit Wales industry newsletters and bulletins: Tourism Newsletter/Bulletin | Business Wales (gov.wales).  Pembrokeshire Council Launches Consultation on Council Tax Premiums
Pembrokeshire Council has initiated a consultation on Council Tax premiums, distinct from the recent Conwy Council consultation. This consultation acknowledges the unique aspects of the self-catering sector and seeks input on the application and duration of discretionary measures.
VOA Introduces New Self-Catering Questionnaire The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has released a new, streamlined questionnaire designed to simplify the process for property owners to inform the VOA that their self-catering property qualifies to be assessed for business rates.
Additional Resources: WTA Member, PASC UK CYMRU has developed a Business Rates Guide, which will be accessible to members on their website soon: PASC UK Members' Reports.  Last week on the 16th July, the Senedd approved the Local Government Finance (Wales) Bill, introducing significant changes to local taxation to create a more equitable and adaptable system reflecting current economic conditions. In an Official Statement from Rebecca Evans, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office, emphasized the importance of these reforms as the first local government finance bill since devolution. She highlighted that the changes address long-standing limitations and are designed to create a consistent, effective, and adaptable taxation framework for modern Wales. For further details, visit the official announcement: Senedd passes Bill to reform local tax system in Wales | GOV.WALES Background on Business Rates in Wales:Non-Domestic Rates (NDR), or business rates, are taxes levied on most non-domestic properties to fund local services. More information can be found here: Business Rates in Wales | Business Wales Key Reforms for Non-Domestic Rates (Business Rates):
 Eluned Morgan has been confirmed as the new leader of Welsh Labour and is poised to succeed Vaughan Gething as the First Minister of Wales, becoming the first woman to hold the role. Morgan, 57, currently serving as the Welsh Health Minister, was the sole contender for the leadership following the closure of nominations on Wednesday.
Morgan's leadership ascension follows the resignation of Gething after a turbulent four months marked by controversies over donations and ministerial dismissals. Although Morgan is now the party leader, she will only officially become First Minister after a confirmation vote in the Senedd. Promoting unity, Morgan ran alongside rural affairs minister Huw Irranca-Davies, who will become the deputy first minister. Expressing her honour at the nomination, Morgan emphasized her commitment to stability, unity, and enabling every individual in Wales to achieve their potential. She also pledged to collaborate with colleagues across the Senedd and the UK Labour Government led by Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Morgan's victory, praising her extensive experience and historical significance as the first woman to lead Welsh Labour. The Senedd, currently in recess until September, must be recalled for Morgan to assume her new role earlier, which can happen once the current First Minister resigns. Congratulations have poured in from various political leaders, although criticisms were also voiced regarding her tenure as health minister, particularly concerning record NHS waiting lists. Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies and Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth expressed both congratulations and concerns, questioning her effectiveness and the potential impact on Wales' future. Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Jane Dodds emphasized the need for Welsh Labour to regain public trust after recent scandals and internal conflicts. Morgan's appointment as leader diverges from Welsh Labour's initial timeline, which intended for a new leader to be in place by mid-September. WTA sends congratulations to Eluned Morgan and wish her success in her new role.  Pembrokeshire County Council is looking into the impact of the '182 Day Threshold' rule for self-catering accommodation on the wider tourism economy so vital to the area, whilst Gwynedd Council will bring the so-called Article 4 Direction into effect from 1st September. At a meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council last week, a significant discussion took place regarding the potential relaxation of the '182-day threshold rule' for self-catering accommodation. The rule, introduced by the Welsh Government, mandates that holiday lets must be occupied for at least 182 days (six months) per year to qualify for business rates instead of being subjected to the council tax premiums levied on second homes. Currently, properties in Pembrokeshire that do not meet this criterion are subject to a 200% council tax premium, essentially tripling their tax rate. The focus of the discussion was a question from Cllr Huw Murphy, leader of the Independent Group, who has been advocating for a reduction in the occupancy requirement from 182 days to 140 days to support the local tourism industry. This follows his previous Notice of Motion submitted in October 2023, which was debated but not adopted by the council's Cabinet in December 2023. At that time, the Cabinet decided to review the situation after gathering more evidence over a 12-month period and to communicate their concerns to the Welsh Government. Cllr Murphy's question sought an update on two key points:
Meanwhile, the introduction of the widely anticipated 'Article 4' by Gwynedd County Coucil was confirmed last week by local councillors, who believe that over 65% of the local population is priced out of the immediate housing market. The local authority has already taken advantage of tax powers to raise the premium rate for second homes and short-term lets to a rate of 150%. The direction means anyone within the Council’s designated area will need consent for: (a) change of use of a main residence into a second home or short-term holiday let; (b) change of use of a second home to a short-term holiday let; or (c) change of use from a short-term holiday let to a second home. Properties that are already classed as short lets or second homes when the direction takes effect will not need to apply for permission retrospectively. Gwynedd Council says the new power is “innovative” and a spokesperson added: “Research shows that a significant proportion of people in Gwynedd are priced out of the housing market and that is more evident in communities with higher numbers of holiday homes. It is therefore inevitable that the significant number of houses being used as second homes and short-term holiday accommodation is affecting the ability of the people of Gwynedd to access homes in their communities. "By introducing an Article 4 Direction, the Council will have a new tool to try to control the impact of second homes and holiday accommodation. The change will require owners to submit a planning application for changing the use of residential properties into second homes or short-term holiday accommodation. "Following this decision, Gwynedd will become the first planning authority to use these new planning powers introduced by the Welsh Government. Detailed work has been carried out over the past year to set out the case for the change to be made and we are very grateful to everyone who took part during the public engagement period.” |
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